Acquiring a Lift Chair for My Father-in-Law

My father-in-law, Alvin Robinson, has led a full and strong life, and is now going through the twilight of his years at the Massry Residence at Daughters of Sarah.  He loves his new place – a small apartment at the Massry, interaction with other senior citizens, and visits from family members.

Last Saturday, while my family were discussing various topics, it was mentioned that Alvin needed a lift chair.  For those who are unfamiliar with the concept of a “lift chair,” it’s essentially a remote-controlled recliner that will actually lift and tilt forward, allowing an elderly person to gradually rise and be able to stand.  My grandmother had one of those lift chairs, and she used it for years.  She called it her “ejector seat.”

With that in mind, I knew what I had to do.  I had to rustle up a lift chair somewhere.

New lift chairs can run anywhere from $700 to $1,000, which was out of my budget.  Used lift chairs, however, ran from $250 to $350 on Craigslist, so I used the online bulletin board to search for a recently-used lift chair. I also used Craigslist to sell some of my personal collectibles to raise the necessary cash – bye bye to a CD multi-disc console changer, so long to one of my restored GE Wildcat phonographs, sayonara to some wooden cabinetry, toodles to a vintage Vectrex video game system.

While selling things left and right, I kept an eye on the Craigslist postings.  I was in luck.  A person in Niskayuna had a lift chair, and was selling it on Craigslist for $275.  Sold to the Chuckster.

I made arrangements with some of my wife’s relatives to have them transport the chair down from Niskayuna to the Massry Residence on Washington Avenue Extension, as there was no way that lift chair would fit in a Pontiac 6000.  That Sunday night, I met up with my relatives at the Massry; they brought the chair in a special towing wagon that attached to the back of their car.  The chair was cinched down for safety, it almost looked like a parade float for the Tulip Queen – if the Tulip Parade was held in a snowstorm.

We barely got the lift chair through the Massry’s rear entrance doors, then up an elevator, then down the hall to my father-in-law’s apartment.

His door had one of those old-style brass knockers on it.  KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

“Who is it?” he asked. He opened the door.

“Furniture delivery, Pop,” I replied, as we brought the chair into his apartment.

You should have seen him.  He was more excited than Taylor Swift at an awards ceremony.  And I could tell he really appreciated the gesture, as the only other chairs in his apartment were standard rocking chairs that, although they were comfortable for him in the past, were now hindering his ability to stand up from a seated position.

He was still testing out the chair, with a  big smile on his face, as we wished him the best.

This is the kind of stuff you do during the holiday season.